BAWKU AGAIN ...4 Dead, 15 Injured, 72 Arrested in renewed fighting (LEAD STORY)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bawku

FOUR persons are reported dead, following renewed hostilities in the Bawku municipality in the Upper East Region on Sunday night.
Ten houses and two trucks were also said to have been set ablaze in the violence, which was characterised by sporadic gunshots in parts of the municipality.
Seventy-two persons have been arrested for screening by the Police for their alleged involvement in the renewed fighting in the municipality.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Regional Police Commanader, Deputy Commisioner of Police (DCOP) Ofosu Mensah Gyeabour, confirmed that the dead included a popular Bawku-based contractor and opinion leader of the Kusasi community, Alhaji Karimu, also known as Ojah.
He was said to have been shot near a mosque around the offices of the Bawku Municipal Assembly.
DCOP Gyeabour said 15 of the arrested persons who sustained various degrees of injuries have been sent to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital for medical attention under police escort.
According to DCOP Gyeabour the police have intercepted two weapons including an AK 47 rifle and the military have also retrieved five rifles including one which was abandoned.
He gave the assurance that the security forces were firmly on the ground adding that all those arrested will be dealt with the law.
As a result of the renewed fighting, the Minister of the Interior has, on the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC), re-imposed the curfew on the Bawku municipality.
The curfew, which will also affect Zabugu, Binduri, Pusiga, Zoosi and their environs, will now start at 9.00 a.m. and end at 7.00 a.m. until further notice.
The increase in the curfew hours is to assist the military and the police to bring the explosive situation in Bawku to normalcy.
A press release signed by the Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwamena Bartels, and issued in Accra yesterday reminded the public that the ban on all persons in the Bawku municipality, Zabugu, Binduri, Pusiga and Zoosi and their environs from carrying arms, ammunition or any offensive weapon still remained in force and that any person found with any arms or ammunition would be arrested and prosecuted.
Sources in Bawku told the Daily Graphic that fighting started about 7.00 p.m., moments after Muslim prayers, and intensified between 11.00 p.m. and 12 midnight.
The late Alhaji Karimu, aged about 50, died while being transported to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital after receiving first aid at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital.
Alhaji Karim’s death was said to have triggered the sporadic gunshots throughout the Bawku municipality.
About 6.00 a.m. on Monday, intermittent gunshots could still be heard in the municipality.
Meanwhile, all shops and offices remain closed, while the streets are deserted.
Military and police patrols have intensified and sources within the security services told the Daily Graphic that more security personnel were being deployed to the area.